Pet Therapy Paradise Park | 215-799-2220

Julie Ann Allender, Ed.D | Psychologist, Sellersville, PA

Bailey's Memorial

Bailey was vibrant and full of life. She lived her life eager to give everything she could to anyone who would take it. Her tongue was incessantly looking for someone to lick and for something to eat. She loved to guard the property from her perch on the picnic table. The only dog I ever had that had to be on top of the table, instead of under it.

Thursday, October 18, 2012 she finally succumbed to her cancer. It was sudden and she didn't suffer long. She was in the master bedroom bathroom when I woke around 3 am. I thought it strange, but let her be. When I got up she wasn't able to walk and kept lying down. She didn't want to eat and for everyone who knew Bailey that was a really bad sign. The dog that would eat everything in sight, including poison which she luckily survived.

We didn't go to her acupuncture appointment. Instead we went to Ark Animal Hospital. I had a lump in my throat and stomach. I knew it wasn't good. I had been warned the end would come when she stopped eating. She got herself into the car, but that was it. They had to help her out of the car. She was hemorrhaging & anemic. Dr. Johnson said I could take her home and she would live another day and two. I didn't want her to suffer. He gave me a handful of treats and said she could eat them. Surprisingly, she was eager to eat after the sedative. I gave her almost all of the Goldfish that I had in my pack. She then closed her eyes and went to sleep.

I wondered how she would let me know she was okay. She spent so much time alone in the Library I didn't know if I would be able to feel her message to let me know she was now okay. Sasha and I had a rough Thursday. Friday I went swimming and the light bulb went off. I had noticed a very strange sight earlier in the day. The flower pot by the tree with the bird feeders had a single, lone daisy growing in it. There hadn't been a flower in that pot for months. I smiled and said thank you. I now know she is okay and we would spend our time together until she was ready to cross over the Rainbow Bridge and be with her buddy Chewie, Chewie's buddy Bagel, Bagel's buddy Cushie, Cushie's buddy Sancho.

A week later I walked by my Chewie Garden, which was named when Chewie died. The garden had had yellow flowers the day she died and I wanted pink. The day after her death the flowers were pink. Thus it was renamed Chewie's Garden. As I walked passed the garden I noticed a very large milkweed plant, which had suddenly appeared from the milkweed pod we had brought back from our last walk together at Peace Valley Park. It wasn't full of fluff so I just planted it.

The milkweed plant brings butterflies. Bailey gave me a lasting addition to Chewie's Garden. The plant that will bring butterflies! Something I had been working on for years. What was more special is that Chewie & my mom came back as yellow butterflies. There was now a place for them to return.

Then the happiness mixed with sadness, Bailey was up in the sky flying over us letting us know she was okay. She was a Hawk in the sky. The happiness was knowing my Turkish sheepdog was overhead protecting me forever. The sadness was on her 2nd round she kept going. My eyes were full of tears knowing she was crossing over. I told her I wasn't ready & she has come back a few times, just to make sure we are okay.